A telecommunications chassis provides a mounting structure for telecommunications modules housing various types of circuitry. The telecommunications chassis must provide protection from externalities while also facilitating heat dissipation from the circuitry it contains. The chassis must also attempt to shield its interior from electromagnetic interference while limiting the amount of electromagnetic interference being emitted from the interior. For certain applications, such as providing uninterrupted service during maintenance, circuitry housed by the chassis may need to be moved from place to place. Thus, portability of the chassis for this type of application becomes important as well. As the data rate being handled by the circuitry within the chassis increases, the ability to shield and protect from externalities while dissipating heat becomes more difficult.
Similarly, with the telecommunications modules that may be housed by the chassis, the circuitry within the module must be protected from externalities within the chassis such as heat, flames, loose material, and interference that may be emanating from other circuits also housed by the chassis. Because circuits fail, the module must maintain its ability to be removed from the chassis and replaced while continuing to protect the circuitry is houses during normal operation. As with a chassis, the ability of the module to shield and protect the circuitry while dissipating heat becomes more difficult as the data rate being handled by the circuitry within the module increases.
Bridging repeater circuits, which may be housed by the modules and chassis previously discussed, must take a low-level electrical monitor signal from one device, such as a digital signal cross-connect, and recreate the electrical signal with the data and clock information intact and at a high level suitable for reception by another device. Bridging repeater circuits are useful where a device has failed or must otherwise be replaced but a break in service is to be avoided. The bridging repeater circuit bridges around the faulty device from one healthy device to a replacement device to establish signal transfer prior to the faulty device being disconnected. The bridging repeater circuit is generally housed by a portable structure which needs to provide protection from heat and interference so that it may be transported to the locations of faulty devices and successfully create the output signal. As the data rate increases, the repeater circuit's ability to recover the data and clock information from the low-level monitor signal to recreate the output signal becomes more difficult.
Therefore, there is a need for a chassis to provide protection to modules from externalities and interference while facilitating heat dissipation, even at high data rates and while being portable if necessary. There is also a need for a module to provide protection to circuits from externalities and interference while facilitating heat dissipation, even at high data rates. Additionally, there is a need for a bridging repeater circuit that can recover the data and clock portions from a low-level monitor signal to recreate a high-level output signal repeating the data and clock information, even at high data rates.